A COMPARISON OF LOCUS-OF-CONTROL AND ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION THEORY AS PREDICTORS FOR NURSING SCHOOLS GRADUATES' SUCCESS.
Contributors: University of New Orleans.
Published: 1990
Number of pages: 283
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Health Sciences, Education.
Description: The purpose of the study was to identify the relationship of predictor variables (affective and cognitive) to the performance of baccalaureate nurse graduates on the licensure examination. The purpose of the investigation was to show that predictors, such as, locus of control and achievement motivation to be significant in predicting success in nursing.

The population for the study was 182 subjects who were graduates of the nursing program over eight consecutive years, 1982 through 1989, and also the current senior nursing enrollees of 1989.

The independent variables were the: (1) high school grade-point-average; (2) American College Testing Program-Composite (ACT); (3) prenursing grade-point-average; (4) nursing grade-point-average; (5) cognate grade-point-average; (6) college cumulative grade-point-average; (7) Internal, Powerful Others, Chance Scales; and (8) Mehrabian Measures of Achieving Tendency. The dependent variable or was the National Council Licensure Examination For Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN).

The data were first analyzed to determine if there were a relationship between each of the independent variables and the subjects' performance on NCLEX-RN. A series of multiple regression analyses and stepwise multiple regression analyses were computed to determine the strongest set of variables in a predictive capacity for NCLEX-RN performance. Discriminant analyses were conducted to determine the accuracy in the predicted and actual performance of graduates on the licensure examination. A series of analyses of variances were computed to determine any statistical significance within or between the different groups on the predictor variables.

The college cumulative grade-point-average ranked as the best predictor for success followed by the cognate grade-point-average. In regards to the strength of the predictor variables for NCLEX-RN performance, the ACT was the most significant variable followed by the cognate grade-point-average and the college cumulative grade-point-average. These results proved to be the most influential cognitive variables for predicting "pass" or "fail" on the licensure examination. Also, these variables significantly predicted with a 60 per cent accuracy those graduates who would pass the NCLEX-RN and a 77 per cent accuracy those graduates who would not be successful on the examination.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-06, Section: B, page: 2814.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF NEW ORLEANS, 1990.

School code: 0108.